When I started writing fiction (moons ago), I had no idea of the world (read ‘industry’) sitting behind a story read by the likes of you and I. That is to say, I didn’t fully appreciate the ‘science’ of how a book came to be in my hands; a novel that I was reading and hopefully enjoying. A book’s written. A book’s published. A book’s read. Simple!

Wrong. Oh boy, am I learning that now! Many of you will know all this. But I didn’t. I just wanted to write.

You can call me naïve.

Every successful book goes on a careful journey to find its reader. At every turn, that novel’s signposted clearly towards its perfect consumer. The better you understand your reader, the route to them, it therefore follows the more likely a novel will fly.

I’m in the privileged position of not having published my first book yet. I’ve got another four, five months until that happens. Longer if needed. I’m using the time to begin building a presence on social media, starting to understand the publishing process, the levers I need to pull, and that means going right back to square one, even before I get my book cover designed (especially because I haven’t got my cover designed). Nonetheless, more and more everything comes back to one question; who is my ideal reader?

When I wrote The Otero County Disclosure (OCD), over twelve months starting from late 2022, I put down on the page the story I wanted to read. That’s the first guidance I received in school, and it was the last piece of advice I heard studying creative writing. But scribing professionally is different, as I’ve come to learn.

Once the first draft of the MS was complete I spent another year working with my editor – who knows his onions (he’s a professor in literature and creative writing, and taught students at the University of East Anglia creative writing faculty). Over the course of that year, guided by Steve, I increasingly asked the question of myself, ‘what’s the genre?’. Is it sci-fi/speculative, literary, contemporary, commercial, upmarket, book club, YA? The list goes on. And so did Steve’s questions. I couldn’t even answer what specific books I read. Fiction and non-fiction? If it’s good, it’s good, I said. Why limit myself to one genre. (Steve, ‘because it won’t sell’).

The truth is, OCD is all of these genres. That then begs the question, who is my ideal reader?

Things changed when I listened to a very interesting podcast before Christmas and the subject, or interviewee, was an indie author who writes ‘hard sci-fi’. I haven’t read any of his books – yet – but I intend to. Why? Because, although I don’t read ‘hard sci-fi’ (in fact I barely read any sci-fi), he said something that really resonated; he was explicit in saying he does not observe the classic tropes of military sci fi, alien invasion, space opera, macho individualism, violence worship, or time travel. And so on. He writes deeper literary books with very grounded, real people. As he says, more like ‘classic’ sci-fi. Well, this got me thinking. More on this in a moment.

Going back to the original question, ‘who is my ideal reader?’ and aligning this with book marketing and promotion, I’m increasingly reading the term, ‘reader magnet?’ You what? (I’m on a learning journey that’s not about the writing). In essence, it’s a ‘loss leader’, or the freebies and giveaways you offer to bring in potential subscribers to your output, and eventually readers. Now, this makes sense to me. If people are prepared to invest money and time to read you, and support you, it’s the bare minimum you would expect to offer in return. Besides which, it’s all about the human connection and engagement – building a two-way rapport. So, I’ve started publishing some of my short stories, for free, hosted on my website and I will promote them on social media. You can read the first, The Testimony of Miss Marcie Miller (1967) – Updated 2017, here. It’s inspired by my forthcoming novel, so it’s all relevant. The big question is who the hell gives a ‘flying f***’ if no-one knows I’ve put it out there and if I don’t know who my ideal reader is thus where to find them.

With this in mind, I started to reappraise my debut novel and who might be interested to read it. There is a key point here. Outlining the book, I took what I would call a ‘currently’ speculative theme (the UFO phenomenon), crosspollinated it with a very current contemporary topic (AI and the workplace) and inhabited it with present day 2025(ish) characters, including a young, female, disabled protagonist (YA). The thing is (and I use the above as just a few examples), the topics and themes are only vehicles, or entry points, to explore very real human stories. Much of what happens in The Otero County Disclosure could have happened on planet Earth a decade ago. Even fifty! There are no little green men, space warriors or distant galaxies. Universal themes and ideas heavily influence the book, stories that transcend a genre, per-se. Much as the hard sci-fi indie author’s books do. I get the point all genres explore universal themes, none are mutually exclusive. But, does this help me identify my ideal reader?

There are two main the reasons I decided to self-publish from the get go. Firstly, I have a hunch the primary theme of the book might just come to a head in the next year or so, thus skyrocketing the public’s interest. It’s already begun to some extent. The subject of ‘disclosure’ (I touch upon what this means in an earlier post) is increasingly occurring in mainstream conversations – particularly in the US. Therefore I cannot afford to miss the boat querying literary agents and then hoping a publisher likes the book. The moment will be lost (have you seen Steven Spielberg’s UFO movie slated for release in 2026 has been retitled ‘Disclosure‘ by the way? Or the trailer for soon-to-be released big budget documentary, ‘The Age of Disclosure‘). Secondly, following the point above, I don’t think any agent or publishing house will support me, as an author, writing stories that subvert, or span, multiple genres. They will also interpret ‘speculative overtones’ in any cover letter to mean sci fi, and walk away. And I will say, it’s not a sci-fi book. It’s contemporary fiction set very much on Earth, today. It just so happens to look at the subject of UFO disclosure (I will say there is a big climactic reveal). But it explores much more besides. It’s a ‘big’ book in every sense of the word. Publishers, it seems to me, don’t want to know if your book doesn’t neatly sit somewhere, be it with a reader profile or a genre. That left me with a problem.

Going back to the podcast interview, and my semi ‘eureka!’ moment… the indie author took a slightly different approach to profiling. He broke down his own ideal reader for his book(s) based upon who he thinks might be interested. Among some of the profile points he suggests, they are; ‘an adult, new adult, or precocious young adult; they enjoy convention-breaking stories / literary sci-fi; enjoyed, ‘The Expanse‘ (books or TV)’, ‘Don’t Look Up‘ (movie), ‘Upload‘ (TV), ‘Speaker for the Dead (book), ‘Arrival‘ (movie); they try to think globally and objectively, and appreciate diversity and challenging the status quo; seek ways to find non-magical hope in the face of this world’s challenges, and; they have a natural curiosity about the real world, including why we think the way we do’.

Bingo. Thank you.

He’s more or less described my ideal reader and yet we write in completely different genres (broadly speaking). We approached the same question from different starting points and reached similar conclusions. It’s only that I was (am) overcomplicating; trying to boil down to the clearest common denominator. If only. Fiction’s not like that.

I guess I’m saying it can all get a little overwhelming to a newbie like me.

My books are not sci-fi in the truest sense of the word, they do explore speculative ideas. But I still need to nail my colours to a genre mast in order to successfully find my ideal reader(s), thus sell my book. I can’t live in the hope throwing enough ‘content’ out there, including this blog, is going to find its target and help me grow; finding readers thus obtaining their support and encouragement. And so I’m thinking hard on how I define my fiction in the hopes I can define my reader. But the hard sci-fi author has definitely encouraged me not to be discouraged by the fact my book isn’t written for market, sitting neatly in a genre, with an easily identifiable reader. Perhaps it is and I just can’t see it. I happen to think it’s a bloody good story most people could identify with. And enjoy. (I guess I would say this!).

Anyway, I’ll figure it out.

And when I have finished clearly identifying my reader(s), I can begin the next project ‘writing for market’, and provide content such as newsletters, short stories and blog posts that will keep them entertained and informed, thus creating a mutually beneficial virtuous circle for me and my eventual audience.

For now, I’m starting wide with the magnets and promos and socials. Call it ‘green behind the ears’ book science. But I intend to narrow my target. If any other writers and readers among you has any tips, feel free to drop me a line. This writer’s all ears.

Thanks for reading.

Huey, February 2025

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